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The Faculty Senate of Eastern Kentucky University met on Monday, April 9, 2007 in the South Room of the Keen Johnson Building. Senator Eakin called the seventh meeting of the academic year to order at approximately 3:30 p.m.

The following members of the Senate were absent:

S. Bailey	M. Case*	D. Clay
F. Deters	J. Glasser*	C. Hubbard*
E. Hunter*^	K. Johnson	K. Kean*^
P. Litzelfelner*	N. McKenney*	C. Neumann
B. Shadur*^	S. Shaffer*	S. Shasby*^
L. Wray*^

^*Indicates prior notification of absence to the Faculty Senate Secretary
^ALT Brooke Bentley attended for E. Hunter
^SUB Elizabeth Young attended for K. Kean
^SUB Leroy Heck attended for B. Shadur
^ALT Dana Howell attended for S. Shasby
^ALT Mary Whitaker attended for L. Wray

Visitors to the Senate were: Allen Ault, Justice & Safety; Gary Barksdale, Human Resources, Sue Cain, Transition & University Services; Jim Conneely, Student Affairs; David Fifer, SGA; Jerry Pogatshnik, Graduate Education & Research; Barry Poynter, Financial Affairs; Bruce Pratt, Agriculture; Mike Sheliga, Technology; Wally Skiba, Human Resources; Aaron Thompson, University Programs; Virginia Underwood, Chief of Staff; Janna Vice, Business & Technology; Tom Watkins, Economics; and Marc Whitt, Public Relations & Marketing

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:
The March 5, 2007 minutes were approved as written.

REPORT FROM THE PRESIDENT: Senator Glasser

Senator Glasser shared the following in her written report to the Senate.

Congratulations to Dr. Malcolm Frisbie on being elected Faculty Regent. Additionally, thanks to Dr. Pam Schlomann for her service to EKU as Faculty Regent over the last five years.

The SACS visit is scheduled for April 10-12. Everyone should become familiar with the QEP prior to the SACS visit by reviewing the information available at http://www.sacs.eku.edu.

The following updates are available for the University Advancement and Capital Campaign progress:

• Plans are being finalized for visits and events in numerous areas for the remainder of the fiscal year including key events and visits in New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, several sites in the Western United States and cities across the Commonwealth.
• Alumni Weekend will be held on April 27th and 28th. Please contact the Office of Alumni Affairs at 622-1261 for additional information.
• Homecoming 2007 is scheduled for October 19th and 20th. If departments or student organizations would like to participate in any special Homecoming activities, please contact Jackie Collier at 622-1261.
• A renewed effort to provide current updates to Eastern's alumni and friends via the web has been launched. This new outreach is designed to timely provide news and special interest updates to alumni and friends who have provided us with a valid email address.

All Kentucky public universities and KCTCS have now submitted their tuition and mandatory fees for the 2007-08 academic year to the Council on Postsecondary Education for approval. As was expected, EKU's tuition and fees per semester for full-time resident undergraduate students ranked third among the comprehensive universities in terms of amount charged. In addition the CPE is continuing its work and discussion with various groups on the base funding model which will serve as a basis for the biennial funding requests for the public universities and KCTCS from the CPE in the 2008 legislative session.

OMNI continues work on Phase "B" design development for the new science building. Phase 1 project drawings that will construct utility connections to the site should be advertised for bid on April 27th. Phase 2 site demolition drawings will follow shortly behind the Phase 1 bid. Phase 2 is currently under review by Facilities Services.

Phase "B" design development for the Business & Technology Phase 2 will complete in the next week. Bidding is scheduled for August.

The University is entering the final stage of the process to contract for operation of the EKU Bookstore. Four vendors have submitted their proposals for review. An ad hoc advisory review group, including faculty members David May, Patrick Newell and Salome Nnoromele, has been reviewing and evaluating the written proposals and presentations by the four companies.

Also, the University is entering the final stage of the dining services RFP process. Three vendors submitted their proposals for review. An ad hoc advisory review group, including faculty members Alice Jones, Claire Schmelzer, and Bill Wesley, has been reviewing and evaluating the written proposals and will evaluate the upcoming presentations by the three companies.

The first year of EKU's new wellness program, Healthy You at EKU, has successfully concluded with 22% employee participation. The second year of the program began on March 1. Also, the February Health Fair was a success with over 200 faculty/staff participating.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

Report from Council on Academic Affairs

Rules Committee. Senator McKenney reported the following in her written report to the Senate.

The Committee met on March 7 and March 28, 2007. Phillip Logsdon, from ITDS, was the committee's guest for the March 7th meeting. He provided information and answered questions concerning the creation of an online tracking system for Senate motions. Logsdon and committee member Rob Milde agreed to collaborate in setting up a prototype which could provide a link to the text of a motion and then indicate its progress through various levels of approval. The prototype will be essentially an electronic table with columns for the various entities that rule on a motion.

The committee is also reviewing the Senate's Internal Procedures to ensure that they are current and in compliance with the Faculty Handbook.

Election Committee. Senator Randles announced that Malcolm Frisbie won the online Faculty Regent election.

Senator Randles reported that the election for the part-time faculty representative was delayed a week.

Senator Koontz announced that he would be sending letters out to all departments within the next week asking for replacements for those senators whose terms are expiring.

Committee on Committee. Senator Dieckmann reported that the committee received 32 self nominations for University committee vacancies. The committee will be meeting on Thursday to decide if the self-nomination process needs to be extended. In the meantime, if anyone is interested in serving who has not already completed the online form, please email Senator Dieckmann.

Welfare Committee. Senator Collins reported that the Committee will be meeting on Wednesday with the Finance area to discuss the issue of direct deposits.

FOR THE GOOD OF THE ORDER:

The topic of discussion was "Faculty and Administration Camaraderie: A Shared Responsibility."

Senator Carter said that one of the things she keeps hearing is that new administrators do not seem to care about institutional memory. Instead they make changes based on what they did at their previous place of employment.

Senator Eakin commented that there have been at least three examples over the past year where new administrators have put forth a proposal assuming and understanding that they had gone about it the right way, or where some kind of misunderstanding came up about what it was. Every one of those administrators has actually come to the faculty and apologized and provided opportunities for discussion. This willingness to reason with one another is a good demonstration of shared governance.

Senator Reed voiced that here has been a tremendous cultural change, where there wasn't much shared governance for a long time. Now we are in a "process" of trying to understand how shared governance works. One of the keys is determining when things should come before the Faculty Senate. If it impacts teaching, service, and scholarship, then it should come before the Senate. If it's something like the "doctrine of no surprises", then it should come to the Senate as an informational item.

Senator Carter shared her thoughts that if it's a major issue, it should come before the Senate. If it's a minor issue, faculty should at least be given written notification two or three days in advance, so that they have an opportunity to react if necessary.

Senator Schlomann suggested that if there's a problem with shared governance it may have less to do with the administration and more to do with faculty. It's disconcerting that only 32 people self-nominated for University committee appointments. Today the entire Council on Academic Affairs report was approved without discussing one item. There were some very important things in that report that should have been discussed in detail. At the last meeting, under the CAA report, a new EdD program was approved without discussion. Faculty need to take ownership of shared governance and ask if they are doing what needs to be done. If not, then that issue needs to be addressed first.

Senator Piercey agreed with all comments heard today. He shared that the Council on Academic Affairs has been discussing ways to insure that the Senate sees issues before CAA acts on them. He reminded the senators that the most significant responsibility a Faculty Senate normally has is the quality of the curriculum. So, he encouraged the senators to share those issues with their colleagues so that their faculty are not only well-informed but that they have an opportunity to provide feedback.

Senator May stated his displeasure that a progress report has not been received from the administration regarding any of the motions approved by the Senate within the last year.

Senator Piercey mentioned that the Senate-approved CAA motion that was submitted to his office is being discussed. However, is the real issue that there aren't enough faculty on the Council on Academic Affairs, or is it that faculty are not being informed about issues early enough in the process to provide feedback?

Senator Schlomann asked about the status of the promotion and tenure recommended changes that were submitted earlier this year. Senator Piercey indicated that he would check on that and report back.

Dr. Pogatshnik encouraged the senators to think of ways to link the Graduate Council and Faculty Senate to talk about research and graduate issues that are becoming more and more important at this institution.

Senator Eakin said that one way to alleviate miscommunication is to make sure information is shared through the proper chain of command.

Senator Chapman mentioned that there used to be a Graduate Council Bulletin published. It might be a good idea to resurrect that publication considering the number of changes occurring in the Graduate School.

Senator Robles shared that it is vitally important to keep an open mind and communicate with each other--both faculty and administrators. If clarification is needed, go to the source and ask. That is how to achieve shared governance.

Senator Schuester stated that there has been so many administrative personnel changes in the last few years that it's difficult to develop camaraderie. Senator Chapman echoed those sentiments and further stated that in order to have camaraderie, faculty must be able to academically disagree with administrators without fear of repercussion.

Senator Ware expressed concerns that corporate encroachment is making inroads in higher education nationally in general. Increasingly, the focus seems to be more on accountability and testing rather than on teaching and learning.

Senator Eakin asked those that had comments, to please email those to him, and he will collect them for future discussions. Please put in the subject line the topic of the FTGOTO from today.

ADJOURNMENT: